"Well, then," said Wilkins, "let me take you to wherever you are going?"
"Thank you," returned Miss Brown, "I'm not going there either," and she joined Araminta and myself, much to our delight, for we have no secrets from her. And then it all came out.
The girls had not loved us less, or Wilkins more, but they had resolved to keep Lent with unusual rigor this year.
They had sworn us off and taken up Wilkins for penance.
Hard on Wilkins?
Not a bit of it. He's as conscious of his rectitude and as unconscious of his unpopularity as ever.
Only he is a little more outspoken about women than he used to be, and somehow or other he has let it creep out that he "doesn't find them interesting."
"They can't even learn to dance without tripping a fellow up," says he.